Electrode -- Evolutions Pokemon Card Review

Pokemon Card Overview:
Today's Pokemon Card Review is of Electrode from the XY Evolutions Pokemon Card Set.  Electrode is a Stage 1, lightning type Pokemon card, with a HP of 80. It has a x2 weakness to fighting type Pokemon, a -20 resistance to metal type Pokemon, and a one colorless energy card retreat cost.  Electrode has an Ability called Buzzap Thunder that says once per turn, you may Knock Out Electrode and attach it to one of your lightning type Pokemon as a special energy card, counting as 2 lightning energy cards when attached to a Pokemon.  Besides the Ability, Electrode has one move called Head Bolt, for three energy cards, two lightning and one colorless, this move does 70 damage.

Pokemon Card Strategy:
So as far as strategy goes, since Electrode is a Stage 1 Pokemon card, you'll first have to get Voltorb into play (I reviewed Voltorb from this set yesterday) and then evolve Voltorb into Electrode.  If you read yesterday's review of Voltorb, you'll know that I thought it was a below average Basic Pokemon card overall, it had a solid HP, a low retreat cost, and could attack quickly, but it was limited in that it just had the one attack, and that one attack was based off of a coin flip and only had a 50/50 shot at doing damage.  So knowing this about Voltorb and looking at this Electrode card, since the only move that this card has requires three energy cards and Voltorb isn't very good, I could potentially see using a 1-1 line of this Pokemon family in a lightning type deck, setting it up on the bench, using Head Bolt every turn when in the active Pokemon spot, then right before Electrode is going to be knocked out, using its Ability, giving your opponent a prize card and discarding all cards attached to Electrode, but saving Electrode from the discard pile by attaching it to one of your benched Pokemon.  This line could work well in decks that have Pokemon which require a lot of energy cards to attack since Electrode could speed up this process.

Pokemon Card Rating:
I would give this card a 3 out of 5 rating.  In my opinion, this is an average Stage 1 Pokemon card overall from the XY Evolutions set.  I like the above average move that this card has and the Ability that is really a one time use Ability, but lets you do something useful with Electrode instead of just plain being knocked out.  But because this card has a below average HP and Voltorb is below average overall, I would only give these two Pokemon combined a 2 out of 5 rating.

Tomorrow's Pokemon Card:
So thanks for reading today's Pokemon card review of Electrode from the XY Evolutions set, stay tuned for tomorrow's card review of Electabuzz, which is from this same set.  Make sure to check below for the Free Pokemon TCG Online Codes!

Free Pokemon TCG Online Code Cards:
Today's Quiz for a Pokemon TCG Online Code Card --
At what level does Voltorb evolve into Electrode?
Please respond with the correct answer and a link to your YouTube channel. 24 hours from now I will be randomly selecting a correct response to my question and sending a private message to this person with a free code on YouTube.

Voltorb -- Evolutions Pokemon Card Review

Pokemon Card Overview:

Today's Pokemon Card Review is of Voltorb from the XY Evolutions Pokemon Card Set.  Voltorb is a basic, lightning type Pokemon card with a HP of 60.  It has a x2 weakness to fighting type Pokemon, a -20 resistance to metal type Pokemon, and a one colorless energy card retreat cost.  Voltorb does not have an Ability and it only has one move.  The only move that this card has is called Continuous Tumble, which for one colorless energy card does 10 damage times the number of heads you get when you flip a coin until you get tails.

Pokemon Card Strategy:
So as far as strategy goes, since Voltorb is a basic Pokemon card with a Stage 1 evolution in Electrode, which I'll be reviewing tomorrow, you'll more than likely want to use this card with that Pokemon.  However, since I haven't reviewed that card yet, I'll just act as though I plan on using this card without its evolution.  So, on its own, the first thing you'll want to look at is if this card has a solid HP, 60 HP is average for a Basic Pokemon, so it passes that test, next you want to see if it can attack for only one energy card, Voltorb passes that test as well, but since Voltorb only has one move, it can't be used much later in the game since its one move isn't very powerful.  The final way to test to see if Voltorb could be used on its own is if Continuous Tumble can do at least 10 damage or more every single turn, and this test Voltorb fails, meaning it isn't worthy of a spot in a deck without using Electrode all because it can't for sure do damage every single time when it attacks.  Of course, if you are using this card with Electrode, you could either keep the card on the bench and evolve it, or try your luck with Continuous Tumble, potentially improving your chances of doing damage by attaching a Trick Coin trainer to Voltorb.

Pokemon Card Rating:
I would give this card a 2 out of 5 rating.  So in my opinion, on its own, without considering Electrode, this is a below average Basic Pokemon card.  Like I mentioned in detail in the strategy section of this post, this card is pretty solid overall, having a good HP, a move that can be used quickly, and a low retreat cost, but because this card is limited overall, having only one move, and the one move that this card has is based off a coin flip, there is no reason to use this card on its own.

Tomorrow's Pokemon Card:
So thanks for reading today's Pokemon card review of Voltorb from the XY Evolutions set, stay tuned for tomorrow's card review of Voltorb's Stage 1 evolution Electrode, which is from this same set.  Make sure to check below for the Free Pokemon TCG Online Codes!

Free Pokemon TCG Online Code Cards:
Today's Quiz for a Pokemon TCG Online Code Card --
True or False?  Voltorb was both in the English Base Set and Jungle sets. 
Please respond with the correct answer and a link to your YouTube channel. 24 hours from now I will be randomly selecting a correct response to my question and sending a private message to this person with a free code on YouTube.

Magneton -- Evolutions Pokemon Card Review

Pokemon Card Overview:
Today's Pokemon Card Review is of Magneton from the XY Evolutions Pokemon Card Set.  Magneton is a Stage 1, lightning type Pokemon card, with a HP of 80. It has a x2 weakness to fighting type Pokemon, a -20 resistance to metal type Pokemon, and a one colorless energy card retreat cost.  Magneton does not have an Ability but it does have two moves.  The first move that this card has is called Thunder Wave, for two energy cards, one each of lightning and colorless, this move does 30 damage, plus it paralyzes the defending Pokemon if a heads is the result when flipping a coin.  Magneton's second move is called Self-Destruct and for three energy cards, two colorless and one lightning, this move does 80 damage, however the move also does 80 damage to itself.

Pokemon Card Strategy:
So as far as strategy goes, since Magneton is a Stage 1 Pokemon card, you'll first have to get Magnemite into play (I reviewed Magnemite from this set yesterday) and then evolve Magnemite into Magneton.  If you read yesterday's review of Magnemite, you'll know that I thought it was a poor card overall, even though it had two moves, neither move was that great, and the card had a low HP, making it pretty unusable on its own.  Knowing this about Magnemite from this set and taking a look at this Magneton card, this card is almost a direct copy of Magnemite, just increased HP and moves since it is a Stage 1 evolution.  So the same thing goes for this card, it has too low of an HP to last long in the active Pokemon spot, it's quicker move, Thunder Wave, has a 50-50 shot of inflicting a special condition when attacking using Thunder Wave, and the main move that this card has essentially knocks out Magneton in the process.  So unless you just love this line in general, I would not recommend using either card in a deck.  If you do, I would set this line up on the bench, especially since Magnemite can't do any damage without getting knocked out and I would use Thunder Wave on this card most turns when in the active Pokemon spot.  Make sure to have plenty of Energy Retrieval trainer cards or an Ability that will move energy cards from your discard pile to your hand, because with Self-Destruct on both Magnemite and Magneton, and low HP on both, you'll be seeing these cards in the discard pile often.

Pokemon Card Rating:
I would give this card a 2 out of 5 rating.  In my opinion, this is a below average Stage 1 Pokemon card from the XY Evolutions set.  Just like Magnemite from yesterday, this card deserves a 1 out of 5 rating, but because it does have two moves, plus a low retreat cost I am saving it from that extremely low rating.  However, combined, I would give this Pokemon family from the XY Evolutions set a 1 out of 5 rating, there is really no reason to use this line in a deck.

Tomorrow's Pokemon Card:
So thanks for reading today's Pokemon card review of Magneton from the XY Evolutions set, stay tuned for tomorrow's card review of Voltorb, which is from this same set.  Make sure to check below for the Free Pokemon TCG Online Codes!

Free Pokemon TCG Online Code Cards:
Today's Quiz for a Pokemon TCG Online Code Card --
What is the name of the newest Pokemon theme deck to include this Magneton card?
Please respond with the correct answer and a link to your YouTube channel. 24 hours from now I will be randomly selecting a correct response to my question and sending a private message to this person with a free code on YouTube.

Magnemite -- Evolutions Pokemon Card Review

Pokemon Card Overview:

Today's Pokemon Card Review is of Magnemite from the XY Evolutions Pokemon Card Set.  Magnemite is a basic, lightning type Pokemon card with a HP of 50.  It has a x2 weakness to fighting type Pokemon, a -20 resistance to metal type Pokemon, and a one colorless energy card retreat cost.  Magnemite does not have an Ability but it does have two moves.  The first move that this card has is called Thunder Wave, for one lightning energy, this move paralyzes the defending Pokemon if you get a heads when flipping a coin.  Magnemite's second move is called Self-Destruct and for two energy cards, one each of lightning and colorless, this move does 50 damage, however it also does 50 damage to Magnemite.

Pokemon Card Strategy:
So as far as strategy goes, since Magnemite is a basic Pokemon card with a Stage 1 evolution in Magneton, which I'll be reviewing tomorrow, you'll more than likely want to use this card with that Pokemon.  However, since I haven't reviewed that card yet, I'll just act as though I plan on using this card without its evolution.  So, on its own, I would not recommend using this card in a deck.  The main reason for this is its lower HP, the other than the low HP, Magnemite can't do much when attacking, for one energy card it has a 50% chance of paralyzing the defending Pokemon, and for two energy cards you could potentially do 50 damage, but you are pretty much guaranteed to knock out Magnemite in the process.  So, since this card can't attack unless it knocks out itself, I would either plan on using this card as a more defensive starter type Pokemon, potentially attaching a Trick Coin trainer to it, and paralyzing the defending Pokemon to start the game, or I would keep it on the bench and evolve it into Magneton.

Pokemon Card Rating:
I would give this card a 2 out of 5 rating.  So in my opinion, on its own, without considering Magneton, this is a below average Basic Pokemon card.  I was pondering giving this card a 1 out of 5 rating, but since it does have two moves and a low retreat cost, I am giving it a 2 rating.  But unless you don't want to do any damage with a Basic Pokemon and you don't mind knocking Magnemite out to do damage, I wouldn't recommend this card for any deck without using Magneton.

Tomorrow's Pokemon Card:
So thanks for reading today's Pokemon card review of Magnemite from the XY Evolutions set, stay tuned for tomorrow's card review of Magnemite's Stage 1 evolution Magneton, which is from this same set.  Make sure to check below for the Free Pokemon TCG Online Codes!

Free Pokemon TCG Online Code Cards:
Today's Quiz for a Pokemon TCG Online Code Card --
What is the highest rarity of Magnemite in the English TCG? 
Please respond with the correct answer and a link to your YouTube channel. 24 hours from now I will be randomly selecting a correct response to my question and sending a private message to this person with a free code on YouTube.